In Japan a Japanese keyboard of JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) kana (so-called Japanese syllabary) key-arrangement is mainly used as a character input keyboard for an electronic information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and the like. As such a Japanese keyboard of JIS kana key-arrangement or a JIS keyboard, a 106/109 Japanese keyboard for IBM's PC/AT compatible machines and a Japanese keyboard for Apple's Macintosh are used in Japan. Further, in addition to such a Japanese keyboard, a 101/104 generic or English keyboard is also used in Japan.
The 109 Japanese keyboard (refer to FIG. 1) and the 104 English keyboard (refer to FIG. 2) are substantially the same as the 106 Japanese keyboard and the 101 English keyboard, respectively, except a few additional function-keys corresponding to WindowsXX (registered trademark) of Microsoft's operating system. Thus as generic terms, “106/109 Japanese keyboard” and “101/104 English keyboard” are herein occasionally employed. Further systems' name and products' name referred herein are the respective companies' trademarks or registered trademarks.
The 106/109 Japanese keyboard, and 101/104 English keyboard are both based on a mechanical European languages' typewriter made in the times when there was no electronic information processing apparatus such as a word-processor, a personal computer and the like, in which characters or letters can be electronically input through a keyboard.
Such a mechanical European languages' typewriter has alphanumeric keys and special character or symbol (or mark) keys wherein alphabet keys in the upper row of the middle key array are sequentially arranged from the left to the right, as per Q, W, E, R, T, Y and so on, which is referred to as ASCII layout or ANSI layout.
The JIS keyboard is diverted from a “kANAMOJI” typewriter designed during the Taisho era in Japan more than seventy years ago when there was no word processor nor personal computer, in which KANAMOJI typewriter katakana characters were allocated to the key layout of the mechanical European languages' typewriter, having the same alphanumeric key-arrangement as that of 101/104 English keyboard but having symbol key-arrangement different therefrom. The term, “KANAMOJI typewriter” used herein should be noted that it means a typewriter designed by KANAMOJIKAI which insisted during the Taisho era in Japan (the beginnings of the 1920's) that the Japanese language should be described only by katakana (so-called the square form of kana in the Japanese syllabary) instead of Chinese characters (kanji).
In the 109 Japanese keyboard 1 as shown in FIG. 1, fifty kana characters are allocated not only to the upper, the central, and the lower rows of the middle key array 3, but also to the uppermost key array 4 for numeral and symbol (or mark) keys, and further a sonant or impure sound mark ([']) key 35 and a p-sound or popped mark ([°]) key 36 are also separately allocated. In FIG. 1, for facilitating recognition of fingers' home positions for finger operation descriptions of kana mark at the keys of the central row of the middle key array 3 are omitted.
In the 109 Japanese keyboard 1 “kana input” method, which an operator inputs a Japanese phrase or sentence in Japanese syllable so-called “yomi” in “kana” mode before electronically transforming into a significative string of characters including a mixture of Chinese characters (kanji) and kana characters, occasionally needs a mode-changing operation between “kana” mode and “alphanumeric” mode, and upon inputting a sonant or p-sound mark needs 2-stroke action which the operator sequentially depresses firstly a certain pure kana key and then secondly a sonant mark ([']) key 35 or p-sound mark ([°]) key 36.
Further in the 109 Japanese keyboard 1, the uppermost key array 4, which is far away from fingers' home positions for finger operation at the middle key array 3, is allocated with kana letters so that it is difficult to exactly touch-type the kana keys of the uppermost key array 4 without sight of the keyboard.
Furthermore input of the Japanese punctuation marks, namely “o” and “'”, is necessary to depress either of little fingers' SHIFT-keys 6 or 7 located at both right and left ends of the middle key array 3 and then to depress the punctuation allocated keys 37 and 38 ([>/.] and [</,] keys in alphanumeric mode, respectively) while keeping the depression of the either of little fingers' shift-keys 6 or 7 (2-stroke action).
Due to such troublesome manipulation, those who input in “kana input” method on the JIS keyboard are in the minority, and it is the present situation that many people make do with “Roman letters input” method. This “Roman letters input” method is such a method that a Japanese phrase or sentence in syllable so-called “yomi” is input by spelling with Roman letters' description and then electronically transformed into a significative string of characters including a mixture of Chinese characters (kanji) and kana characters. In such a “Roman letters input” method it will do to basically learn the key-arrangement of twenty-six keys of alphabet letters and several keys of special character or symbol (or mark) keys, and is easy to do touch-typing. Further separate sequential depression of the sonant mark key or p-sound mark key is unnecessary, and sequential depression in little finger's operation using either of SHIFT keys 6 or 7 for Japanese punctuation marks is also unnecessary (that is, one stroke action will do).
The Roman letters input method, however, requires “2-stroke action”, that is basically sequential depression of a consonant key (for example, ‘k’, ‘s’, ‘t’, ‘n’, ‘h’, ‘m’, ‘y’, ‘r’, ‘w’, ‘g’, ‘j’, . . . , or ‘p’) and a vowel key (that is ‘a’, ‘i’, ‘u’, ‘e’, or ‘o’), so that it requires the number of key depressions about 2 times as large as kana input method. Further The Roman letters input method has such a defect that Roman letters' spelling different from original English spelling must be input when inputting a word of foreign origin inscribed in katakana, so that it makes a person feel a sense of incongruity or bewilderment.
The JIS keyboard has a keyboard layout of JISX6002 information processing system, but it is, as mentioned the above, diverted from the key-layout of the KANAMOJI typewriter which was designed in the old time when there was no electronic information processing apparatus such as a word processor and a personal computer, nor the Japanese kana-kanji transformation system which is a software or program for electronically transforming a string of inputted “yomi” in kana into a string of characters including a mixture of kanji (Chinese characters) and kana (the Japanese syllabary), so that it was the time when it was quite out of consideration that “yomi” in kana could be inputted in Roman letters and electronically transformed into a string of characters including a mixture of kanji and kana.
Thus the JIS keyboard requires the number of keys corresponding to fifty sounds of the Japanese syllabary so that the keys in the uppermost key array 4 for numerals and symbols (or marks) are, as mentioned the above, also used for allocation of kana characters, and requires the number of keys in the middle key array 3 more than that of a mechanical European languages' typewriter so that the ENTER/RETURN key 9 and the right little finger's SHIFT key 7 are located far away from the key 39 at the right little finger's home position ([+/;] key in the alphanumeric mode).
In the JIS keyboard for IBM's PC/AT compatible machines and Apple's Macintosh now widely used in Japan many people make do with Roman letters input method because of easy learning and operation though the double number of key depressions should be executed. Further because in personal computers, in which the Japanese kana-kanji transformation system (so-called FEP, IME, or IM) can be operated, input of a string of Japanese characters can be executed by Roman letters input method which uses the alphabet, the 104 generic or English keyboard 2 (refer to FIG. 2) is also used in inputting a string of Japanese characters at the personal computers such as PC/AT compatible machines and Macintosh.
Further there is, as shown in FIG. 3, a NICOLA (NIhongonyuryoku COnsortium LAyout) keyboard 1A which is based on the keyboard optionally adapted to Fujitsu's Japanese word processors for word processing only. After analyzing the Japanese sentences this keyboard is determined to allocate “kana” only to the three (the upper, the central, and the lower) rows of the middle key array 3 and enables to input, in only one stroke action, all of pure sound letters, sonant letters, p-sound letters, Japanese punctuation marks, numerals, and symbols (or marks) by single key-depression or by simultaneous key-depression along with either of the right or left THUMB-SHIFT key.
This NICOLA keyboard is developed for electronic Japanese word processing by considering the frequency of the Japanese syllabary appearance in Japanese sentences so that it is superior in kana-input efficiency than the JIS keyboard, the kana key-arrangement of which was diverted from that of the mechanical KANAMOJI typewriter designed about seventy years ago or about half a century before the advent of the electronic information processing apparatus. In fact only keys corresponding to eight fingers' home positions of right and left hands other than right and left thumbs in the central row of the middle key array 3 can input letters of 60% among the Japanese sentences. Further its alphanumeric key-arrangement is the same as that of ASCII layout except a few symbol keys so that it enables the Roman letters input without any sense of incongruity.
Further in order to improve or sophisticate primitiveness of the kana key-arrangement of the JISX6002 model which was diverted from the KANAMOJI typewriter designed about seventy years ago in Japan so that it had never considered the Japanese kana-kanji transformation system, the Japanese input keyboard layout JISX6004 specialized to the Japanese kana-kanji transformation system, so-called new JIS keyboard, is settled in 1986, which followed the example of the Fujitsu's THUMB-SHIFT keyboard in that kana letters were allocated only to three (the upper, the central, and the lower) rows of the middle key array of alphanumeric key-arrangement based on “ASCII” and not allocated to the numeral keys in the uppermost key array, and it was put on the market along with the above mentioned old JIS keyboard of JISX6002 model in about the middle and the latter half of 1980's.
However, in this new JIS keyboard not the “thumbs”, but the “little fingers” are used for kana-shifting of each key, and its shifting operation is not one-stroke action by simultaneous depression, but 2-stroke action by sequential depression.
Further the kana key-arrangement of the new JIS keyboard is different from that of the THUMB-SHIFT keyboard so that because of the users' mentality that it is troublesome to learn the new kana key-arrangement and that as long as the Roman letters input is executed even the old JIS keyboard of JISX6002 model is the same way, it was not supported by users, almost disappeared from the market by 1990 and repealed from the Japanese Industrial Standard in 1999.
To the contrary the NICOLA keyboard, which was diverted from the THUMB-SHIFT keyboard developed around 1979 and adapted to the Japanese word processor presented in 1980 by Fujitsu Ltd. The NICOLA keyboards supplied by Fujitsu Ltd. and Reudo Co. Ltd. in Japan are applicable to IBM's PC/AT compatible machines, and still now in 1999 firmly supported by those engaged in writing works such as authors, scenario writers and the like, or the people in general who prize its tireless and efficient kana input. One of the NICOLA keyboards made by Reudo Co. Ltd. can be applied to the recent Apple's Macintosh.
Although M's System keyboard and TRON keyboard are also proposed in Japan, these keyboard are different in the alphanumeric key-arrangement from that of the ASCII layout, so that these keyboard are not further discussed herein for the purpose of simplicity.
As mentioned the above, both of the 109 Japanese keyboard 1 (refer to FIG. 1) and the 104 English keyboard 2 (refer to FIG. 2) are based on the mechanical European languages' typewriter which was made at the time when there was no electronic information processing apparatus, such as a word-processor and a personal computer capable of electronically inputting characters or letters.
The mechanical European language's typewriter and the electronic European language's keyboard as an electronic inputting device of a computer are inputting tools in the region of languages which after every word a blank is inserted or frequency in use of the SPACE key is very high, so that the SPACE key is an important key and thus the SPACE key 8 laterally and widely extends far beyond the range of the thumbs' home positions for finger operation in the lowermost key array 5.
To the contrary “RETURN” operation is not high in the frequency in use as much as “SPACE” input operation and the mechanical typewriter has a problem of its mechanism, so that the RETURN key 9 is located at the extreme right end region of the upper and central rows of the middle key array 3 (in case of 106/109 Japanese keyboard) or at the extreme right end region of the central row of the middle key array 3 (in case of 101/104 English keyboard), which is out of fingers' home positions.
Thus even the ENTER/RETURN key 9 of the character input keyboard in for computers still follows the position of the RETURN key for returning the “carriage” of the mechanical typewriter to a line head at the left end of a typing paper though there is no problem of mechanism as of the mechanical typewriter.
However, in addition to the “RETURN” operation in writing or line feed operation, the frequency of “ENTER” operation for sending execution commands to CPU is also high in computers, and importance of “ENTER” operation is increased more than the times of mechanical typewriters for writings only. Even under such a present circumstance the ENTER/RETURN key 9 of the computer keyboard is still located at a position out of fingers' home positions as of the mechanical typewriter for writings only.
Such an arrangement might not be so much suitable to the current electronic information processing apparatus. That is, the ENTER/RETURN 9 key must be depressed in fingers' operation of touch-typing with the right little finger being stretched in the right direction from its home position, or the right hand being moved in the right direction so that it imposes a burden on the awkward right little finger, and it imposes a mental stress on the operator to precisely depress the ENTER/RETURN key without sight of the keyboard.
On the other hand the sentences of the languages using Chinese characters such as in China, Korea and Japan do not employ a blank between the adjacent words, so that the frequency in use of the SPACE key 8 for a blank is not so high. However, in the advanced Japanese kana-kanji transformation systems such as ATOK (the registered trademark of JUSTSYSTEM Corp.) and MS-IME (the trademark of Microsoft Co. Ltd.) “TRANSFORM” operation for electronically transforming “yomi” in kana into a character string of the mixture including kanji (Chinese characters) and kana letters is imposed on the SPACE key 8, and “NON-TRANSFORM/DEFINED” operation for defining “yomi” in kana as “hiragana” (kana-letters) without transformation or for defining the transformed character string is imposed on the ENTER/RETURN key 9.
Thus in case of inputting the Japanese language by using the main current kana-kanji transformation system such as ATOK, MS-IME and so on frequency of use for both of the SPACE key 8 and the ENTER/RETURN key 9 are very high because they are cooperatively and alternately depressed as walking by both legs.
The 109 Japanese keyboard 1 nevertheless follows in the step of the key-layout of mechanical European languages' typewriter which think much of only a space key so that only the SPACE key 8 widely occupies the central portion of the lowermost key array 5 which is the thumbs' home positions and the ENTER/RETURN key 9 is still located at the position far away form fingers' home positions for finger operation.
Further the 109 Japanese keyboard as shown in FIG. 1 still retains the NON-TRANSFORMATION key 10 and the TRANSFORMATION key 11 which are not so much necessary in the advanced Japanese kana-kanji transformation system for personal computers such as ATOK, MS-IME and so on as were necessary in the old Japanese kana-kanji transformation system before appearance of ATOK or MS-IME, just like the cecum which is unnecessary in an advanced human body, said NON-TRANSFORMATION key 10 and said TRANSFORMATION key 11 remaining at the right and left side positions of the relatively long SPACE key 8 at the central region of the lowermost key array 5, respectively.
Furthermore even in the 109 Japanese keyboard 1 many people make do with the Roman letters input of easy touch-typing rather than kana input as mentioned the above. However, in order to touch-type in the Roman letters input the 104 English keyboard is much more advantageous than the 109 Japanese keyboard. This is because in the 104 English keyboard the ENTER/RETURN key 9 and the right little finger's SHIFT key 7 are in the vicinity of the right little finger's home position for finger operation, whereby upon drawing up the English writings and inputting the mark keys using the SHIFT key the burden to the right little finger becomes light.
Furthermore in regard to equipment for a note-size personal computer or a mobile computer, which is required to be more compact the 104 English keyboard 2 is much more convenient than the 109 Japanese keyboard 1.
In any case touch-typing in both of 109 Japanese keyboard 1 for PC/AT compatible machines and 104 English keyboard 2 is necessary to carry out “ENTER/RETURN” operation at the position of the ENTER/RETURN key 9 where the operator must stretch the right little finger in the right direction or move the right hand in the right direction, and to carry out “NON-TRANSFORMATION/DEFINED” operation by means of this ENTER/RETURN key 9.
Touch-typing the ENTER/RETURN key 9 at the extreme right end of the middle key array 3 with the right little finger awkward in movement imposes a burden on the right little finger and causes a cramp in the right little finger.
In the same way, with respect to the BACKSPACE (BS) key 12 the both of the conventional 109 Japanese keyboard 1 and 104 English keyboard 2 as an input device for electronic information processing apparatus follow in the step of the mechanical European languages' typewriter in spite of no problem about the mechanism as an electronic keyboard as well as the ENTER/RETURN key 9, in which the BACKSPACE (BS) key 12 is located in the extreme right end in the uppermost key array 4.
Touch-typing the BACKSPACE key 12 at the extreme right end of the lowermost key array with the awkward right little finger is much more difficult than depressing the ENTER/RETURN key 9, and imposes a heavier burden on the right little finger and causes a cramp in the right little finger.
Such an arrangement at the right end of the ENTER/RETURN key 9 and BACKSPACE key 12 in the conventional keyboard is not preferable in health and in labor medical science as a human-machine interface in a personal computer from the point of view of ergonomics, especially for women and children who have little hands.
Further there is such a situation that “ENTER” operation by means of keyboard is required because a left-click action is not available during the mouse operation, in which the “ENTER” operation must be executed by the left hand of the operator if the right hand operating the mouse is not released therefrom for “ENTER” operation. However, in the conventional arrangement at the extreme right end of ENTER/RETURN key 9 the left hand must be moved in a long distance across the body, which forces an immoderate posture to oppress the chest.
Furthermore frequent left-click actions are likely to injure the muscle and/or the tendon for the mouse handling index finger so that “ENTER” operation by means of keyboard is more preferable than that by left click action for a mouse.
In case of the NICOLA keyboard the BACKSPACE (reverse) key 12 is located at the position adjacent to the right little finger's home position, while the RETURN key and the SPACE key are both located in the positions out of the fingers' home positions for finger operation because its primary object is in improvement of the Japanese kana input efficiency, especially the RETURN key is far away from the right little finger's home position and small, which is a disadvantage that a burden is imposed on the right little finger for “ENTER/RETURN” operation upon use with a computer.